Moving day: T-minus three days…

We apologize for not posting much lately, but this Saturday is moving day, and boy, have we been busy. Shopping for a TV. Shopping for a couch. Packing. Trying to take care of all the tedious, “administrative” stuff. And the list goes on. Here are a couple pointers for ya:

1) Decide exactly how you’ll be moving as early as possible so you can make the necessary reservations. Unless you have a ton of really heavy stuff, it’s generally cheaper to rent a truck and do it yourself. [That is, unless your parents, significant other, and/or a bunch of friends with cars live in the area and are willing to help.] We’re doing the rent-a-truck thing since we’re not moving that much furniture; all we’ve got is a small bookcase, a dresser, a coffee table, a TV stand, and a full-size mattress set. And make sure to do your research before you default to U-Haul … we decided to go with Budget, because although Budget’s base rental rate was the same as U-Haul’s ($19.95 for a 10-foot truck), Budget’s mileage rate was lower, at $0.77 versus $0.99 per mile. (And that’s where they get ya.)

2) Try to collect as many free moving boxes (and packing peanuts, and sheets of bubble wrap) as possible. Trust us … this kind of stuff costs a lot more than you might think. We were lucky enough to get a bunch of moving boxes and some bubble wrap from an office that had recently moved from one building to another. Their professional movers charged them $900 for moving supplies (see what we mean?). Of course, we probably wouldn’t have needed $900 worth of packing material, but hey, the freer the better. We’d rather spend the money on stuff for our new place! Don’t be afraid to ask stores for boxes that they’re throwing away … liquor stores are a great place to start, because they get regular shipments and the boxes have removable cardboard dividers in them that you can use to keep fragile items from knocking against each other. And don’t forget good ol’ craigslist … not only can you post a “wanted – moving boxes/packing materials” ad, but people get rid of that kind of stuff almost every weekend. That’s how we’ll be getting rid of all our boxes once our move is complete.

Alright. That’s plenty of info for now, and we’ve got to get back to packing. Stay tuned.